Information Architecture Project
Introduction
I created the information architecture for the concept: Cam's Closet, a website about British vintage fashion (BVF).
This page includes the domain model, sitemap, user journey, and wireframes I created to build the site.
This project created for the Information Architecture course at City, University of London.
Research
Good information architecture begins with understanding your domain. So, I interviewed a vintage fashion shop owner, and 3 enthusiasts to learn the terminology and information needs of my audience.
This helped me identify how to organize key aspects of British vintage fashion in design. For example, it informed me that my audience organizes fashion by decades.
Pictures from exploring vintage shops.
Domain Model
A domain model is a graphic diagram that explains what a topic (or subject domain) is all about. It does this by showing key factors and how they affect each other.
The BVF Domain Model below was developed based on my research and interviews.
Site Map
The next step was to create a sitemap that plans the information hierarchy of the website. To achieve this, I conducted a Tree Test and Open Card Sort on Optimal Workshop. Then, I used the ways that participants organized different categories to inform the top level-navigation labels on the site.
User Journey
The following user journey shows the ideal path(s) a user might take to find information on the website (which by now I had named 'Cam's Closet', because it's a unisex, 'vintage' name).
The journey is based on real information-seeking goals found within vintage fashion enthusiast forums.
Wireframes
The following wireframes show:
• A Clothing Database (for users to filter and search for vintage pieces).
• A Suit Page (to show a sample search result).
• A Help Forum (for enthusiasts to help each other and socialize).
• A Luxury Designers page (designed to teach beginners about fashion history).
Wireframes were evaluated with 4 participants. They gave feedback such as to add 'breadcrumbs' to the design so users don't lose track of how they reached a page. Their feedback informed the final designs.
Clothing Database
Suit Page
Help Forum
Luxury Designers
